"Fighting": A box office success?

In the past week, a low-budget home-grown action movie surprised China’s film industry. Directed by Yu Junhao, "Fighting" raked in more than 40 million yuan in three days, beating rivals like the Berlinale’s Golden Bear winner "Black Coal, Thin Ice". However, according to an online source, the investor of the movie block bought a number of tickets to improve its box office performance.

Directed by Yu Junhao, "Fighting" raked in more than 40 million yuan in three days, beating rivals like the Berlinale’s Golden Bear winner "Black Coal, Thin Ice".

Yu Junhao’s action drama "Fighting" tells the story of the ultimate fight between two men. The movie took 41 million yuan in its first three days on release, topping the box office.

But one source revealed the box office success was in fact partly thanks to the movie’s investors, who pre-bought a million tickets to boost its box office performance.

Directed by Yu Junhao, "Fighting" raked in more than 40 million yuan in three days, beating rivals like the Berlinale’s Golden Bear winner "Black Coal, Thin Ice".

"I admit that we bought tickets, but not that many. We bought around 30 percent of the 41 million yuan. And this is just for promoting the movie. Because we want to attract more people. And I believe that it’s not just us, investors of other movies do the same thing," Yu said.

The source also reported that "Fighting" got 40 percent of the screening schedule, which is rare for a low-budget movie.

"Rumor says that we took up 40 percent of the screening schedule. But actually we only got 17 percent on the opening day, and it’s getting smaller and smaller. So that’s not true," Yu said.

Despite Yu’s claims that the block-bookings are purely for promotional purposes, business insiders say that investors flexing their muscles is not fair game for the industry.